Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect [in whom] my soul delighteth! I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations.
God Himself points to someone and tells us to look. Who is this Servant, and what is He sent to do?
The chapters around this one speak of Cyrus, a conqueror God used against idolatry. Commentators read verse 1 as a step up from him to someone far greater.
The chapter opens with a moving picture of Christ as the true Servant of the Lord. He is the One who will really establish the glory of God on the earth. Cyrus overwhelms the terrified nations with all the show of war. This Servant comes in lowly grace instead. The victories of Cyrus may carry out God's government against idolatry, but Cyrus was no delight to God. The moral glory of Christ, seen in the lowly grace of His perfect Manhood, was a delight to the heart of God.
There is a second contrast. Israel had been God's servant and had failed.
This makes the opening of Isaiah 42 stand out. There the prophecy turns from Israel, the servant of God who failed, and introduces the Lord Jesus as the true Servant of God. We are to fix our attention on Him, for He is the chosen One in whom the delight of God rests. He is the One who will bring forth judgment for the nations, and not only for Israel. This prophecy was fulfilled in part at His first coming, but other details wait for His second coming.
The word behind "my chosen" (older translations have "mine elect") is a title, and Scripture applies it directly to one Person.
the Lord Jesus: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect (bachir) in whom my soul delighteth." Isa. 42:1; 1 Peter 2:6. He was fore-ordained to be a mercy-seat through faith in His blood.
The verse calls us to look. One writer explains why many believers never do.
God invites us to look at Him, and by His Spirit He enables the freed believer to do it. Many Christians are taken up with themselves, or are struggling with sin in the flesh. They are not free enough from themselves to gaze at this lowly Servant, the One who fills the heart of God with such infinite delight. They need to know the freedom that is in Christ Jesus, through His death, where God judged sins and sin and put them away. Once a believer knows this freedom, his heart is free to rejoice in the perfections of this lowly One.
Isaiah had already said the same thing earlier in the book.
The Servant of the Lord. As such He is filled with the Spirit. "And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD" (11:2)... We also see His method: He makes no show in His service.
Matthew 12 quotes this verse. One writer explains what "judgment" means here.
Verse 18: Here the word "Behold" has another sense: "Behold my servant whom I have chosen." The force of it is "Look at my servant" — the only perfect Servant... "I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He will show judgment to the Gentiles." Judgment here is discriminating grace... The nations are not clever about it, but they sense that things are wrong, and they want someone to put them right. Every effort people make fails... but the Lord's personal presence will put everything right.
The ESV says "justice to the nations." Older translations say "judgment to the Gentiles." The writers quoted here use the older wording.
His glory showed itself first in quietness. The rest still waits.
Here, though, it is the Servant. He is the object of the Lord's delight and the One of His choice. He is the vessel of the power of the Spirit, and He makes judgment known to the nations... His glory was beyond all rivalry, yet He showed it first in perfect, quiet lowliness. What marked Him was not a display of far-reaching power. It was meek withdrawal — not only when faced with murderous hatred, but away from the crowds that followed Him... His victory at His second coming brings this state of things to an end. Then He will set judgment in the earth, and the islands will wait for His law.
- Behold — the verse tells us to look. The One shown is Christ, the Servant in whom God's delight rests.
- Chosen — God's choice falls on the Lord Jesus. Not on a conqueror like Cyrus, and not on the nation that failed as His servant.
- Upheld — the Servant does not stand alone. God holds Him and puts His Spirit on Him, as Isaiah says again in chapter 11.
- Sent — His reach is not Israel only. Judgment goes out to the nations, and that judgment is grace that puts wrong things right.
- Unfinished — His first coming filled out the quiet, lowly part. Setting judgment in the earth waits for His return.
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Isaiah has been describing God's chosen Servant. Here the picture turns to how He acts, and the surprise is that the One who will bring justice to the nations makes no noise at all. Why does He refuse the street, the crowd, and the raised voice? And when will that silence end?
The New Testament settles who this Servant is. It does so at a pointed moment in the story.
We know for certain that the Servant in this passage is Christ. In Matthew's gospel the Spirit of God applies these words to the Lord, at the moment when He refused to take any public place in the nation whose leaders were seeking to destroy Him (Matthew 12:14–21). He would make no national appeal. He would raise no flag. No one would hear His voice in the streets of the city. He would pass through the land in such lowly quietness that He would not break a reed already bruised, or put out a wick that was barely burning.
Raising your voice in the street has long been a political move. One writer spells out what the verse rules out.
He would not quarrel or cry out. That is, He started no public movement for reform, and He never advertised Himself. He had no opportunist spirit. He never used the large crowds to lift Himself up as the champion of some cause. Hearing His voice in the streets would of course mean raising it in public protest against wrongs, real or imagined. That has been a popular political move through history, and it still is today. He avoided every such thing.
The restraint was not only towards those plotting His death. It also held when the crowds would have made Him famous.
Yet His glory was beyond all competition, and He showed it first in perfect, quiet lowliness. What marked Him out was not far-reaching testimony but meek retirement. He kept out of sight when murderous hatred surrounded Him. He also kept away from the crowds that followed Him and from the admiration of those He healed, who would have spread His fame. He told them not to make Him known, so that what the prophet Isaiah said would come true: "Behold my servant …"
The quietness flows from the position He had taken. A servant's business is his master's name, not his own.
As the Witness of God He had to confront the world, and so He met its hatred, as we read in John (John 7:7). Yet as the Servant of God, seen here in Mark, He was hiding Himself, as far as His service allowed. Service is never perfect without that. A servant is not to know himself. He is to know only his master, and to be very willing that others likewise should not know him, but only his master. And it is so with the Lord. He goes on with His work; and if that draws notice, His way is still to go on, and, under fresh services, still to hide Himself.
The verse describes a stage, not a permanent condition.
But we must not lose sight of the point of the quotation. It is the lowly place Christ took when He came in grace and humiliation, before the day when He will lift up His voice in judgment.
Every other ruler has failed at what He will finish.
The mighty ones of the earth have tried to bring in worldwide peace and blessing. They have failed and grown discouraged. But this perfect, lowly Man will "not faint nor be in haste" until He has set judgment in the earth and brought the nations to trust in His rule.
What was true of the Master is asked of those who serve Him.
"A servant of the Lord must not quarrel or fight, but be gentle towards all." So the Lord had taught and lived, and the disciple is not above his teacher. But are not some people so difficult that they deserve at least a sharp word? He must still be "gentle towards all". The question is not how unpleasant people are, but how well he presents Christ. It is easy enough to wound or overthrow a man; but what if it grieves the Holy Spirit of God and dishonours Christ?
- Servant. The quietness of this verse belongs to Christ; Matthew applies it to Him at the moment when the leaders were seeking to destroy Him.
- Silent. No public movement, no self-advertisement, no voice raised in protest in the street — He avoided every such thing.
- Hidden. A servant is not to know himself, only his master. So the Lord kept working and kept hiding, even from admirers who would have spread His fame.
- Tender. That same lowliness meant He would not break the bruised reed or put out the barely burning wick.
- Later. The silence is for now. A day comes when He lifts up His voice in judgment and sets justice in the earth.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench he shall bring forth judgment according to truth.
Isaiah 42 opens with God pointing to His chosen Servant, and this verse shows how He treats what is weak and half-dead. A crushed reed and a dying wick are worth nothing, so why does the One who brings justice to the nations leave them alone?
Israel had failed as God's servant. Here the prophecy turns to another.
This makes the opening of Isaiah 42 stand out. The prophecy turns away from Israel, the failing servant of God, and introduces the Lord Jesus as the true Servant of God. We are to fix our attention on Him, for He is the chosen One in whom God's delight rests. He is the one who will bring forth judgment for the nations, and not only for Israel. Here again we find a prophecy that was partly fulfilled at His first coming, but waits for His second coming for the rest of its details.
His glory first showed itself in staying out of sight, even when men wanted Him dead.
Yet He, whose glory was beyond all rivals, showed it first in a perfect lowliness that drew no attention to itself. Even far-reaching power of testimony was not what marked Him out. Quiet withdrawal marked Him out. He withdrew not only when facing murderous hatred, but also from the crowds that followed Him and from the praise of those He had healed, who would have spread His fame.
Both images are chosen for their uselessness. Older translations call the dying wick "smoking flax," and one writer names the people it pictures.
Nothing is more worthless than a bruised reed, and nothing more offensive to the nose than smoking flax. The Pharisees were like both of these, but He will not break and quench them until the time of judgment arrives. Meanwhile in His name the Gentiles are learning to trust.
Commentators differ over who the two pictures stand for. Some read them of the nation as a whole rather than its leaders:
Israel was a bruised reed, but He would not break it; His earthly people, who should have been a flaming torch in testimony for God, had become a smoking flax that gave no light to the nations around but rather clouded them — yet He would not quench Israel.
The verse is often quoted as pure tenderness. One writer warns that this restraint has a time limit.
A bruised reed is very weak, and smoking flax easily quenched. "Until" — He is going to do it in judgment by and by. What people mean when they quote it is right enough: He is tender and gentle to any poor thing. But He is going to deal with man in judgment. His grace comes out here, but it will not always be grace; He will not always be so gentle. Smoking flax speaks of something fit for judgment; we usually put it out, He left it alone.
He had the strength to act, and chose not to use it.
The Lord, in His day, refuses to break the bruised reed, or to quench the smoking flax. He refuses to use His strength and authority even for the righteous judgment of His enemies (see Matt. 12). He will not argue or cry out, or let His voice be heard in the streets, but, "suffering thus far," He overcomes evil with good.
He treated His own followers the same way when their hope had collapsed.
He came close to them in their sorrow and grief with all the gentleness that had always marked His dealings with them. They were the bruised reed and the smoking flax, which He would not break or quench. They were broken in heart and sore in spirit. They needed the healing of the great Physician, and He was there to point out the sickness gently and apply the cure.
The last clause promises the outcome: He will "faithfully bring forth justice," which older translations render "judgment according to truth." Gentleness here is not weakness, and looking like failure is not failure.
He will not come like political agitators among men. He will not break bruised reeds or quench smoking flax. That is, He will not deal in judgment with such false and offensive people as the Pharisees were (see Matt. 12:14-21). Yet He will finally bring forth judgment to truth, and that will be victory. It may look as if He fails when He comes the first time in grace, but He will not fail, nor will He be discouraged. Moses failed. Elijah lost heart because he seemed to fail. But this Servant will do His appointed task perfectly.
- Servant. Israel failed in the role; the prophecy turns to the Lord Jesus, the chosen One in whom God's delight rests.
- Restraint. The reed and the wick were fit for judgment, and He left them alone — grace withheld the blow He had every right to strike.
- Reach. He did not crush the Pharisees who wanted Him dead, and He did not break His own followers when their hope had collapsed.
- Manner. He showed His glory by quiet withdrawal. He overcame evil with good instead of using His authority against His enemies.
- Outcome. The word "until" sets a limit. He will bring judgment to truth, and though His first coming looked like failure, He will not fail.